Broadcast signal intrusion

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Broadcast signal intrusion is a term given to the act of hijacking broadcast signals of radio and television stations. Hijacking incidents have involved local TV and radio stations as well as cable and national networks.

1 Method of intrusion
2 Punishments for violations
- 2.1 United States
3 Confirmed events
4 Other incidents
5 Radio
6 In fiction
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Method of intrusion

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For analog stations it is relatively easy to break into the transmission network. All that is needed is to determine the frequency used in the studio-to-transmitter link, then generate a higher-powered signal at the same frequency from a position near the transmitter site, essentially jamming the original signal. The input stage of a cheap video sender can produce the right kind of signal. A low-power microwave signal generator or a home-made equivalent from easily available components provides the signal (which is pointed at the receiving dish antenna). Most larger stations encrypt their signal, in which case one would just jam the signal as is the case with digital. Most TV and radio stations are extremely vulnerable, but lack of knowledge has kept this from being a problem.

[edit] Punishments for violations

Laws on signal hijacking differ by country.

[edit] United States

According to the Federal Communications Commission, the original penalties of signal hijacking were $100,000 in fines and/or one year in prison until late 1987 or early 1988, when Congress passed a bill that would penalize violators with fines peaking to $250,000 and/or a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted.^{[citation needed]} Those who engage in such acts are often referred to as "video pirates" or "video hackers". Hijacking a signal of any kind is a felony in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Confirmed events

[edit] Captain Midnight on HBO

Main article: Captain Midnight (HBO)

MacDougall's message as seen by HBO viewers.

At 12:32 am Eastern Time on April 26, 1986, HBO (or Home Box Office) had its signal hijacked from its satellite tower in Long Island by a man calling himself "Captain Midnight". The interruption occurred during a presentation of The Falcon and the Snowman. The intrusion lasted between 4 and 5 minutes and was seen by viewers along the East Coast. The man, who during the interruption also threatened to hijack the signals of Showtime and The Movie Channel, was later caught and identified as John R. MacDougall of Ocala, Florida. He was prosecuted shortly thereafter. Authorities were tipped off by a man from Wisconsin in a phone booth at a rest area off Interstate 75 in Gainesville, Florida. The man filing the report said that he overheard MacDougall bragging about it. MacDougall was fined $5,000 and served a year probation. McDougall stated that he did it because he was frustrated with HBO's service rates. He also said that it was hurting his business selling satellite dishes. The message, placed over SMPTE color bars, broadcast by MacDougall read:

“

GOODEVENING HBO
FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT
$12.95/MONTH ?
NO WAY !
(SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE!)

”

[edit] Religious takeover

In September of 1987, Playboy TV (then known as the Playboy Channel), based on the popular adult magazine, had its signal hijacked by a man later identified as Thomas Haynie who was employed by the Christian Broadcasting Network. He was convicted and was suspended from his duties under the new provisions.^[1]

[edit] Max Headroom incident

Screen shot of the Max Headroom incident

Main article: Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion incident

On November 22, 1987, an unidentified man wearing a Max Headroom mask intercepted the signals of two television stations in Chicago. Independent station WGN-TV (now a CW affiliate), owned by Tribune Company, was first in line. Its signal was hijacked during the sports report on its 9:00 pm newscast for about 25 seconds. Then came PBS station WTTW, where the man was seen and heard uttering obscene remarks and later dropped his pants, and was then spanked with a flyswatter before the screen went black. The interception occurred at about 11:00 pm during an episode of Doctor Who entitled Horror of Fang Rock and lasted almost 90 seconds. To this day, none of the individuals responsible for the intrusion have been identified. This incident got the attention of the CBS Evening News the next day and was talked about nationwide. The HBO incident was also mentioned in the same news report, presented by Frank Currier. Both WGN and WTTW along with Chicago's other television stations are broadcast from high atop two of Chicago's tallest buildings, the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center.

[edit] "Telewizja Solidarność" (TV Solidarity)

In September of 1985, four astronomers at Poland's University of Torun, Zygmunt Turlo, Leszek Zaleski, Piotr Lukaszewski and Jan Hanasz, used a home computer, a synchronizing circuit, and a transmitter to superimpose messages in support of the labor movement Solidarność (Solidarity) over state-run television broadcasts in Torun. The messages read ""Enough price increases, lies, and repressions. Solidarity Torun" and "It is our duty to boycott the election" with the Solidarity logo.^[2] The four men were eventually discovered and were charged with "possession of an unlicensed radio transmitter and publication of materials that could cause public unrest". At their sentencing, the judge noted their prize winning work in the Polish scientific community and gave each of them probation and a fine of the equivalent of US$100 each (or 3,000,000 old zlotys, now just 300 PLN). The average month salary was equal to $20USD.^[3]

[edit] The era of Soviet pirate broadcasting

According to numerous claims, memoirs and witness reports,^[4]^[5]^[6] broadcast signal intrusion was a common practice in the USSR during the 1970s and 1980s, due to the absence of and high demand for any non-government broadcasting. Hijackers would overpower the signal on relay stations for wired radio networks in order to transmit their own programming, or transmit into wired radio networks during gaps in normal programming. Even though the incidents appear to have been fairly common, few of them were publicly reported for policy reasons.

[edit] Other incidents

On November 26, 1977 at 5:12 p.m., an Independent Television News broadcast on British television channel ITV (specifically for its Southern Television region) was interrupted by the voice of someone calling himself "Vrillon of the Ashtar Galactic Command", in conjunction with a continuous “bopping” or “buzzing” sound. During this incident, the actual newscast video remained unchanged, but with the voice of "Vrillon" overriding the normal audio. The interrupting voice was electronically disguised and warned viewers about the dangers of nuclear weapons and stated that humanity had “but a short time to learn to live together in peace and goodwill,” before destroying itself. This altered broadcast lasted for approximately five and a half minutes and the identity of the “alien” Vrillon has never been discovered.^[7]

In 2002, Falun Gong practitioners claimed to have broken into CCTV, the major television broadcaster in Mainland China, and other local stations in China to broadcast Falun Gong propaganda.[1]

On January 3, 2007 in Australia, during a broadcast of an episode of the Canadian television series Mayday on the Seven Network, an audio loop unexpectedly started playing, clearly saying in an American accent, “Jesus Christ, help us all, Lord”. This same voice message continued to repeat itself over and over during the show for a total of six minutes. A spokesman for Seven later denied that the transmission was a prank or a security breach and claimed that the repeated line was actually part of the original broadcast and said, “Jesus Christ one of the Nazarines”, although there is hardly any similarity between the two phrases. Subsequent investigation by independent researchers revealed that the invading transmission was actually from a video taped news broadcast of a civilian truck being ambushed in Iraq. It remains unknown whether or not this was an intentional act of television piracy or a genuine glitch of some sort.^[8]

On June 17, 2007, an intrusion incident occurred on Czech Television's Sunday morning programme Panorama, which shows panoramic shots of Prague and various locations across the country, especially mountain resorts. One of the cameras, located in Černý Důl in Krkonoše, had been tampered with on-site and its video stream was replaced with the hackers' own, which contained CGI of a small nuclear explosion in the local landscape, ending in white noise. The broadcast looked authentic enough; the only clue for the viewers was the Web address of the artist group Ztohoven, which had already performed several reality hacking incidents before. Czech Television is currently considering legal action against the group, and tourism workers in the area have expressed their outrage (since the programme serves to promote tourism in the areas shown).^[9]

On July 13, 2007, a grainy photo of a man and woman interrupted Washington, D.C. ABC affiliate WJLA's digital or HD signal. The picture was not transmitted over the analog signal, however. The incident was deemed a genuine signal intrusion by various websites but has since been confirmed to be the result of an older HDTV encoder malfunctioning in the early morning hours and going undetected. ^[10]

About a month later, on August 22, 2007, the FX network's audio seemed to be distorted to East Coast viewers. This may have been the first time in 21 years since the HBO "Captain Midnight" incident to have broadcast signal intrusion occur on a cable channel.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Radio

It is a more frequent event to intrude on various radio stations, as many simply rebroadcast a signal received from another radio station. All that is required is an FM transmitter that can overpower the same frequency as the station being rebroadcast. Other methods that have been used in North America to intrude on legal broadcasts include breaking into the transmitter area and splicing audio directly into the feed.^[11]

[edit] In fiction

Broadcast signal intrusion is used as a plot device in many genres of fiction. Common fictional usages of the act include the depictions of technologically advanced space aliens or countercultural figures hijacking broadcast media in order to easily spread their messages to the general population.